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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fortify.

To give power, strength, or vigour to (oneself or someone, or to something); to strengthen.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈfɔːtɪfaɪ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfɔɹtəˌfaɪ/General-American[-ɾə-]General-American
  1. To give power, strength, or vigour to (oneself or someone, or to something); to strengthen.

    transitive
  2. To support (one's or someone's opinion, statement, etc.) by producing evidence, etc.; to confirm, to corroborate.

    transitive
  3. To increase the nutritional value of (food) by adding ingredients, especially minerals or vitamins.

    transitive
    Soy milk is often fortified with calcium.
  4. To impart fortitude or moral strength to (someone or their determination, or something); to encourage.

    figuratively · transitive
  5. To make (something) defensible against attack by hostile forces.

    figuratively · transitive
  6. To make (something) structurally strong; to strengthen.

    archaic · transitive
  7. To increase the defences of (an army, soldiers, etc.), or put (it or them) in a defensive position.

    transitive
  8. To secure and strengthen (a place, its walls, etc.) by installing fortifications or other military works.

    transitive
  9. To provide (a city, a fortress, an army, etc.) with equipment or soldiers.

    obsolete · transitive
  10. To add spirits to (wine) to increase the alcohol content.

    transitive
    Sherry is made by fortifying wine.
  11. To install fortifications or other military works; also (sometimes figurative), to put up a defensive position.

    intransitive
  12. To become strong; to strengthen.

    intransitive · obsolete
  13. To undergo, or cause to undergo, fortition.

    ambitransitive
Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English fortifien, fortfien (“to strengthen (a castle, etc.) from attack; to strengthen (an army, etc.); to strengthen (a person), aid, support; to reinforce, support; to improve; to increase the efficacy of”), from Old French fortifier (modern French fortifier), from Late Latin fortificāre (“to strengthen, fortify”), from Latin fortis (“powerful, strong”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to ascend, rise up; to be elevated or up high”) or *dʰerǵʰ- (“to be firm; robust, strong”)) + -ficō (suffix forming causative or factitive, or other verbs).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.